Naruto- Enlightenment
by Mindforge
Summary: Hello everyone, this is a rough draft of my work, and as i continue posting things i hope to improve. I look forward to your feedback. Thanks for reading!


Alright everyone... small heads up before you start reading.

I LOVE Naruto, and i know quite a bit about the world, that being said I don't know EVERYTHING about it, so keep that in mind and bear with me. Second, this is more of a rough draft, but I'm an impatient guy and wanted to start putting some material out there and start getting feed back, any feedback whatsoever is appreciated :)

Prologue- Brother And Father

"You've been training well, son..." Osen took a bite of the fish that had been impaled on a stick and roasted over a small fire that he and his son sat beside, criss crossed, alone in a thick of forest with leafy branches that veiled them over head. His full head of salt and pepper hair was brushed back, and lines of age began to wrinkle his face, jawline covered in black grey stubble. age had not slowed him in the slightest, however. Sweat still beaded on his sons forehead and dampened his headband on which a metal plate bore the symbol of the leaf village, his body bruised and beaten from their 'training' session prior to their evening meal. The son silently disagreed. the closest to landing a hit on his father was a gash in the back of the old mans grey vest, a cut that spanned horizontally over where a village symbol was long since torn off, and the strike didn't even reach his skin.

"You're disapointed in yourself," claimed Osen. the son looked up to him from his own fish, hardly surprised that his father could read him like an open book, an open book with visual aids. it frustrated him. He remained silent. Osen continued, "So close, yet so far away? is that what you're thinking? or is it your frustration that you could have actually hurt me for the first time but you pulled back..."

"I didn't pull back," snapped the son, tossing what was left of his fish into the fire and watching it burn with a glint of anger in his deep brown eyes, bold eyebrows like his fathers. Olsen watched this little tantrum of his, and responded with a chuckle. His eyes were cold, but carried a tired carelessness in them as they always had.

"Don't lie to me, Dante. I know that it sickens you,the thought of you actually tyrying to kill me. But you do understand why i want it this way," Dante the son gave a quiet nod, feeling his fathers eyes on him as he continued staring into the flickering flames, avoiding the direct eye contact. And for good reason. His father would throw the occasional genjutsu at him unexpectedly, even when their training would seem over. And it was no simple trickery illusion. most often it would be various tortures both mental and physcial, things no normal parent would put their child through. But aside from being ninja, these two were clearly not the average father and son.

"Explain, then." said his father as he took the final bite of fish, tossing the remains into the fire as well.

Dante let out a small sigh, having repeated this many times, "because pushing ourselves to kill you will make our training count for more. we will physically excert ourselves past our limits, and mentally prepare ourselves for the worst. because-"

"because nothing is more worse than losing a loved one. It is that very loss that has woken rage, sparked vengance, kindled war. hell," Osen scoffed, "Id say the sorrow of loss is more powerful than the love that caused it," This made Dante think to himself for a moment. Sure, he had friends in class in the ninja school of the village hidden in the leaves, along with some individuals he cared about. he enjoyed being kind to even complete strangers, and had almost no enemies throughout the entire leaf village, which was saying something. But love, and the power his father claimed the emotion had, he wasnt so sure. He hadnt felt something that strong, maybe not even with his father. he assumed, however, that if he loved anyone, it would be his father, and his brother and mother, though he hadnt seen the latter two in years.

His father still made a point to drop by from time to time, usually a few visits throughout a month, but lately more often. He wasnt sure why, but thought it better not to ask yet.

"What about Felix?" Asked Dante, finally looking up to his father. He always looked forward to hearing about his twin brother, as long as the news was good and nothing along the lines of 'he's dead'. "Does he not share the same hesitation as i do?" he added.

A smile crept from the corner of his fathers mouth. "Actually, you may be surprised to hear that he no longer holds back. i can see it in his eyes now..." A slight disbelief shot over Dantes expression. was he falling behind his twin brother? Sure, they had somewhat of a rivalry- but until now they seemed rather even, given their separate skillsets. His father leaned slightly forward, "but that being said, he hasn't so much as landed a scratch on me yet..." he spoke in almost a hush, as if his brother was standing just out in the shadows that surrounded them. Dante wished he was, sometimes he missed the guy. Last time he saw him, felix was almost more broad shouldered and muscled than their father, and at only sixteen years old at the time! but even so, he felt some pride that he had gotten closer to injuring his father than his brother, and then thought how odd that was to be proud of such a thing.

But then he wondered something elsed- something he thought about ever since that very day. Dante closed his eyes... and then opened, revealing a change in his left retna. it turned red, with a perfect circle between the outer edge of the retina and the pupil, and evenly spaced on the circle were three small solid black triangles, their pointed ends pointing away from the pupil. the sharingan, passed down from his father. however, his right eye remained normal... though it had not always been that way.

For some birthdays, children might get a gift. a cake, acknowledgement from their friends. a celebration, maybe. But not Dante and Felix. For them, that was the very day that they swapped right eyes. their tenth birthdays, specifically. Dante had been born with the gift, and though they were twins, Felix had not. A decision made by their parents. even thinking about it he could still remember the pain he felt waking up after the procedure. the throbbing, burning pain that lasted for weeks without end. It was after their tenth birthday that their parents began to separate them, more and more.

After revealing his sharingan, he pointed to his eye that was once his brothers.

"how is he doing with this...?"

"thought you'd never ask," said his father with a grin. He made eye contact with Dante and at lightning speed put his hands into a seal- Ne, his right hand clasped around his index and middle finger raised up. At that very moment Dante closed his normal eye. He already knew his father was activating a genjutsu and hoped that his one sharingan eye could supress it, though he had failed many times before. he nearly jumped- his heartbeat immediately elevated, though he retained his calm, keeping the chakra flow through his body smooth and in his control..

"This is no test... Do not fight it" His fathers eyes were now those of the sharingan as well. Dante took a deep breath... and deactivated his sharingan, the red fading back to their original brown, indistinguishable from his other eye that was his brothers. he stared at his father, waiting for what would come next.

"hey, brother." Said a voice from behind him. Dante quickly looked back, standing as he saw a figure emerging from the shadows. The figure was not but a couple inches taller than he... and would have been the same height if it weren't for the figures steel plated boots. he wore a simple blue vest, filled in with thick muscles. simple black cloth pants tucked into his boots that spanned halfway up his shin. he wore a headband over his forehead as well, though his was black and contained no village symbol. his hair thick, black and very short. Dantes was longer and unkempt. matted down somewhat from the rice hat he normally wore. it was sat beside his small pack beside the fire.

The figure was well equipped, with two long bladed swords on each hip attatched to his belt, two smaller machete like blades were sheathed and strapped horisontally on his back, each handle pointing a different direction, and finally a massive blade slung over his back, its razor pointed tip nearly scraping on the ground as he stepped forward.

This Was Felix, his twin brother who had taken to training in the weapon arts. his right eye was red with the sharingan, and something in his face had changed, aside from the few years of age since the last time they had met. A wide eyed, somewhat feral look of someone who has seen some terrible things throughout their life. was this what he looked like now?

After a moment of silence, his brother grinned, "Been a while, hasn't it?" Dante nodded quietly, words had escaped him out of dumbfoundment from seeing his long lost brother, even as an illusion, after so long. his father spoke up,

"Felix, i was just telling your brother here your progression with your own sharingan."Osen approached at Dantes side to get a glimpse of his reaction.

"yeah? I dunno, wouldn't it be better to show him first hand?"

"You're right, how about showing him right now?"

"He cant," said Dante finally, "He's not really here." He knew it was an illusion. For a moment he had seemed so real, even knowing his father had used a genjutsu on him, it was so convincing that he had nearly forgotten. that was but a small bit of Osens power.

"Yeah?" Said Felix, raising a brow as he gripped his right hand on one of the blades at his hip. "Lets see about that," in one swift moment he drew his blade, stepped forward and made a lightning quick slice at Dante, but he didn't move a muscle out of pure confidence. the blades edge cut through the air, and right as it reached Dantes skin, the blow intended to cut his head clean off, the blade went through Dante as if he were a ghost... and gashed right into his fathers neck. blood spurted out as the old man gasped, his throat gurgling with each attempt to draw in air as he fell to his knees. blood had splashed on Dantes face as he watched him collapse to the ground.

"I will kill him before you... I grow stronger than you are day by day as you waste your time attaching yourself to that village you call your home."

Dante closed his eyes, "break.." he murmured to himself, and when he opened them, he was sitting beside the fire once again, criss crossed as he was before. His father was no longer sitting across from him. he was standing, almost fully immersed into the shadow as he walked off into the forest.

"Keep up the good work, son." were his last words before finally disapearing. Dante was left alone to ponder. how accurate was that illusion? was his brother growing cold hearted, merciless as he had just seemed? how strong was he? and when would he see him again...

He shrugged it off as he put on his rice hat, tying its string under his chin and kicking dirt onto the fire thathad shrunken to embers, snuffing it out entirely. he made for the village, ready for a bath and a much bigger meal than what he just had.


End file.
